The last chapter!
Thanks for everyone who voted (all three of you), I appreciated not having to decide on my own.
The muse is right over... and she's gone again, whelp time to start that chase.
Disclaimer: While I find my explorers gear feel free to know that I do not own RWBY, though I do have tentative claim to Misthelth.
Dear friend,
You are cordially invited to a celebration with the Schnee Dust Company in one week's time. Should you agree to come, simply use the code enclosed with this invitation and any travel costs you may incur, both to and from the celebration, will be covered by the company.
We hope to see you there.
Jaune,
I've heard you've been meeting with what's left of RWBY over the last few weeks, hence why this invitation is being delivered early by courier. No doubt you consider me vain—after all, I am assuming you are coming to meet me next—but you are welcome to come early and talk. Should you wish to skip the party I will understand, but it will not be nearly as boring as expected, as I have many of our schoolmates from Beacon on the guest list.
I hope to see you soon.
Weiss
The Schnee family mansion was not what he expected.
To be fair, Jaune was not the kind of guy who spent a lot of time exploring mansions, or comparing them for that matter. Nor had he ever planned on doing so. He had shown his invitation to the gate guard, who had waved him down the driveway with a shake of his head. Following the driveway led the young man to where he was currently standing and staring at the massive estate in front of him.
Unlike the towering intimidation of Ozpin Tower, the Schnee family estate spread out like a fort. The outbuildings were easy to spot, and while some of their uses were obvious (he could smell the stables from here), there were others that he could see no use for.
For instance, why was there a full size replica of Beacon Academy over the hill?
Making his way to the front door, he pulled the large knocker at the front, and released it. A moment later an older man appeared, dressed in a vest and blue tie ensemble.
"Sir?"
"Um…" Jaune wasn't sure why he was surprised. Weiss had never made any secret of her family's wealth (though she had neglected their eccentricities) so it really was no surprise that she had a butler. Keeping this in mind, the huntsman realized that he had yet to answer the questioning gaze of the gentleman in front of him. Avoiding speech in case he said something even less useful than 'um', he simply held out his invitation, hoping that he would get another reaction like that of the gate guard and he would be left to find his friend.
The butler took the invitation, glanced at it, then stopped and read both note and invitation more closely before returning them to Jaune. "I see, sir. The party is tonight, so I'm afraid Miss Schnee will not be able to meet with you today. However, I very much doubt she would wish you to be dressed as you currently are, as your outfit is hardly fit for a gala." That said, he opened the door and ushered the younger man in. "She has anticipated the needs of her friends, however, and has several tailors and seamstresses here who will be more than willing to assist you in choosing something to wear."
"I don't-" Jaune began, only to be cut off.
"Mr. Arc, trust me when I say that I have an idea as to why you are here, and…" The butler paused, and Jaune swore there was a tear in his eye that he quickly brushed away. "I hope you can help her. Someone needs to." With that, the older man led the huntsman into the main hall that was sparsely decorated with a few paintings and a couple statues. Jaune quickly noticed that most bright colors were covered with grey or black cloth.
"Why all the coverings?" He asked as they passed a painting draped in a black sheet.
"The house of Schnee is in mourning, sir," the butler explained. "Mister Schnee recently passed, and his son was found to be the killer."
"Oh." Jaune didn't know what to say to that. "When did this happen?"
"A few weeks ago. The tabloids had a field day as journalists are wont to do, especially since her brother had been searching for the younger Miss Schnee for some purpose." The butler stopped in front of a large hall, carefully opening the door. "This ball signifies the end of the mourning period and celebrates Huntress Weiss Schnee taking her place as head of the Schnee Dust Company." There was definitely a certain amount of pride in the older man's voice at that statement. "We are here." He continued forward, gesturing to the group of people tending to dresses and suits. Three spotted Jaune, and he took a half step back, hands out as if to ward off the onslaught he knew was about to come. He knew those looks; his sisters got them right before they turned him into their personal dress-up doll. As the doors closed behind him, trapping him inside, the woman and two men finally arrived in front of him, the looks on their faces making him feel as though he was a piece of meat.
"Jauny boy."
Jaune closed his eyes cursing his luck, before opening them and turning to look at the source: his huntsman school tormenter. Cardin had never been particularly nice to him, especially after the hornet incident, and the idea that the bully was here was quickly made this day go from bad to worse.
"Hello, Cardin. I'm surprised to see you here." The three clothesmakers that had made their way to him were now comparing different colors against his skin, arguing over styles and patterns.
Honestly, Jaune was kind of glad they weren't considering his opinion; his knowledge of high-end fashionable clothing was almost less than nothing.
According to his sisters, his knowledge of fashion didn't exist at all.
Cardin shrugged, getting an admonishment from his tailor as he did so. "Schnee invited everyone, apparently. I heard the rest of her team bailed, but most of the rest of Beacon is coming, as is Mistral, Haven, and even some of Vacuo."
"I see." Jaune was ushered onto a footstool where the woman began to take his measurements. Habitually, he followed her instructions.
"Yeah." Cardin apparently hadn't realized Jaune didn't really care about the conversation. "She's going to be throwing a party like this pretty regularly if what Velvet said is true. Apparently she really likes us, since we're going to be invited to all of them." The boy continued to talk about how awesome it was going to be and how it would be fun to see how many rich girls he would land as Jaune's brain fixed on something else.
The hunters were still needed for now, there was no doubt about that. The pools of destruction saw to it that the Grimm would never truly go away. The number of hunters had thinned during the last war, however. While politicians had argued both for and against the continued training of huntresses and huntsmen, Atlas had simply invaded the land of destruction itself and set up a perimeter around it with robotic sentinels destroying the Grimm as soon as they spawned from the pits. While many of the monsters still roamed freely, that number was quickly dwindling as the kingdoms' militaries and freelance hunters eliminated the threat they posed. This left essentially a very large, well trained, and unaligned army out of a job.
While governments fought over who got to capitalize on that, apparently someone else already was.
After all, Weiss was a huntress herself.
Weiss was not the girl he remembered.
Jaune had been at Ruby's funeral; most of the kingdoms had been, really. The broken, sobbing girl he had seen there bore no resemblance to the white haired goddess that was making her way around the ballroom.
And there was no other way to describe the woman.
A word here, a laugh there. Weiss moved through the room like a queen amongst her subjects, and where she went there was no shortage of empty platitudes and false promises. Politics of every sort were in full swing at this ball. Yet the woman in black (as was expected for a mourning heir or heiress, Jaune had learned) with silver accents adorning her dress was obviously the power in the room.
True to her letter, the Schnee heiress had indeed invited many of her former classmates. What made them stand out was the way they were dressed. Weiss had spared no expense on the other hunters either. Despite the wealth of many of the guests, the huntsmen and huntresses were dressed better than most of the rest of the attendees. While the assorted businessmen and career politicians sucked up to the hostess, feeling her out on different policies, vying for her support, or trying to partner with her (in any sense of the word), it was the hunters and the military that were clearly the hostess' favorites.
After all, look at the money she casually dropped on them.
Jaune was not a politician by any stretch of the imagination, but even he could see that Weiss was making a statement with the way she had contrasted the 'less important' guests against the background of the 'movers and shakers'. Clearly the Schnee family was now holding the huntsmen and huntresses in high esteem.
Jaune himself had to admit that Weiss' tailors had done a fine job on his own outfit. It was fashionable, comfortable, and best of all, functional. He would have no problem wearing this every day to fight Grimm if he had to, and he was pretty sure his schoolmate had ensured that it was designed that way intentionally.
Speaking of schoolmates, Cardin had been correct: there were a lot of them here. Blake and Yang hadn't made it, and that wasn't much of a surprise, but it looked like most of the surviving Hunters had. Team FNKI was here, having apparently gone freelance and becoming one of the most respected mercenary teams on Remnant. Coco and Velvet had also made it, though they looked a little off without the rest of their team there. Fox and Yatusashi had been lost in a Grimm raid shortly after RWBY's final battle with Salem. The girls had immediately retired, though there were rumors that the retirement was either flexible or temporary, as both had been spotted out fighting Grimm in the countryside. SNNN was conspicuous by its absence, but Nora had explained to Weiss, or rather, announced to the entire hall while the hostess looked on with thinly-veiled amusement, that they were on a top-secret mission for the one of the kingdoms (the girl had named all four, and then said it was one of them but she couldn't remember which one) and that they were sorry for missing the festivities.
FNKI looked... kind of jealous about that, honestly.
Ren had, unsurprisingly, accompanied Nora as her date, and several of the teachers from Beacon were among the guests milling around the ballroom. The construction of the new Beacon Academy was nearly done, and many students were looking forward to attending. No one was really sure how long it would be open, but…
Weiss suddenly stepped up to where someone had left a microphone, probably for the inevitable speech.
"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, and honored guests." The talk died down, as everyone began to turn toward the speaker. "I am honored that so many of you have turned out for my father's memorial and my first day as the head of the Schnee Dust Company." Polite applause filtered through the hall, and once it had died down Weiss continued. "Normally this would be the part where I would tell you how amazing I am, but as… as a friend of mine once told me, I do that a little too much anyway." Chuckles could be heard around the room at that, though Jaune noticed Weiss' smile became a bit strained. "For now, I want to announce my first official act as President of the SDC. As many of you here know, five years ago I was present at what has now become known as the 'Battle of Beacon.'" Silence fell in the hall, and Jaune knew he wasn't the only one who was revisiting that night and feeling the pain of those they lost. "I am thrilled beyond words to hear that Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch has successfully rebuilt Beacon better than it was before, and that is why I wish to donate seven and a half million lien to the school in both funds and resources. Headmistress, if you could come up here please?" Gasps were heard throughout the crowd, and a few scowls were seen on the less politically experienced.
"Headmistress," Weiss began once the gobsmacked woman had made her way to the front. "I was unable to help my alma mater when it needed me, and that is why I am donating this. Now I can help, and should you ever need anything, just let me know." Jaune watched her twitch almost imperceptibly and wondered if the white haired woman had said more than she planned.
Glynda blinked, still obviously surprised at the outpouring of generosity, then nodded and pulled herself together. "Miss Schnee, allow me to be the first to congratulate you on assuming the Presidency of the Schnee Dust Company, and let me tell you just how thankful I am for your support."
"Please enjoy the party, everyone. I look forward to speaking with all of you tonight." Weiss finished her closing remarks, and went back to mingling. Unlike before, her smile seemed a bit more forced. Her laugh sounded a bit more fake, and her patience seemed to be quickly coming to an end. Jaune realized that the conversation about the fall of Beacon, combined with the indirect mention of Ruby, had apparently thrown his friend off her game. Sidling up to her, he opened his mouth.
And choked.
For some reason he hadn't really considered that he was about to talk to Weiss Schnee, his huntsman school crush and a very beautiful woman. (And in that dress, there was no doubt that she was all woman.) He had never been much at wooing the opposite sex. Pyrrha had literally kissed him right before she died because he had been too dense to see her advances for what they were.
Still, he wasn't that guy anymore. Not all the deaths at Beacon had been literal.
"Um… Weiss how'reyoudoing?" Well that could have been smoother.
The huntress jumped, obviously surprised, but the smile on her face seemed to lose its forced politeness as she looked at him. "Jaune, how good to see you!" And for the first time ever, she sounded genuine, as though his appearance was a godsend. "I'm so glad that you remembered that we had to discuss that position for your sister."
"We did? We are? What?" Jaune wasn't entirely on board with what was going on, and he nearly took a step back when he saw her eye twitch.
"Your sister? The job I mentioned yesterday? The one I said we needed to talk about privately?" The white haired woman was speaking slowly, clearly trying to tell him some- oh.
Well he could cross spy off his list of jobs he'd be good at.
"Right. That one. We can go to your office-"
"Nonsense, the garden is fine for this conversation." Weiss cut him off, annoyance glinting in her eyes. "Come along." Carefully leading him through the crowd, the two eventually made their way outside into the crisp night air. Taking a deep breath, she looked out over the grounds. "You're worse at politics than Ruby was."
"Um…" Jaune wasn't really sure how to take that. "Thanks, I guess?"
His friend giggled, a genuine smile back on her face. "It wasn't meant as a compliment, but if you're going to take it as one you probably shouldn't mention that you did when you go back in. The politicians will probably take offense."
"I suppose so." The blond responded, looking out over the grounds. The air was chilly and smelled like frost. The gardens themselves seemed to glint and sparkle in the moonlight where some of the ice crystals had taken hold, while the pools reflected the full moon back up into the sky. "It's beautiful." He murmured.
"Yes," sighed Weiss. "I can almost understand why my mother hid out here so often when my father was… alive." The pause in her voice held none of the reticence that she'd had when she'd referred to Ruby earlier. It seemed as though it was just there, as though Weiss was doing what she was expected to.
Merely playing a part.
Jaune cleared his throat. "Weiss, I wanted to talk to you-"
"About Ruby." Weiss nodded, looking at him. "Yes, I thought you might. That's actually part of why I brought you out here. It's not that I don't want to talk about her-" She paused for a moment, and then amended, "Actually that's a lie. I don't want to talk about her, but I know you won't be happy until you've driven me up the wall insisting I talk about it, so I am willing to discuss it tomorrow." Jaune opened his mouth to point out that tomorrow rarely came when she interrupted him. "I need to keep my head on straight tonight, Jaune, and talking about Ruby… well, it's distracting."
"So tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow." The heiress—well, president now, he supposed—agreed, looking out over the gardens again. "Just let Klein know when you want to retire, and he'll show you to your room."
"Um," Jaune ran through that sentence in his head. "Weiss, I don't have a room here."
"Jaune, every huntsman and huntress has a room here, even if I have to sleep on the floor of the ballroom." The white haired young woman's tone dipped low as the moon was covered by a cloud. "I cannot do the job any more, as I have… other concerns, but I will not turn my back on who I was- who I still am." The way the billionaire spoke about her 'other' concerns made Jaune's neck hair stand up one end. It reminded him a bit of Salem, and the way she seemed bent on a goal she alone could see, no matter the cost. Somehow his friend made her act of charity seem like an act of war. As she turned and walked back inside, murmuring, "We'll talk more tomorrow; it's good to see you," Jaune saw just how hard her eyes had become and again wondered just what it was the white haired girl was planning.
He was getting another breath of fresh air when someone came out to join him on the balcony.
"Huntsman Arc."
Glancing at the uniformed woman standing in front of him, Jaune gave an awkward bow, recognizing her as Weiss' sister. "Miss Schnee. Good evening."
"Specialist Winter Schnee." The retort was not as biting as it could have been, and he gave a nod, not really wanting the conversation to continue. Unfortunately it seemed his companion had other ideas. "I have heard quite a lot about you from Weiss, and I was curious. What brings you here to speak with her?"
Jaune sighed. First 'Captain' Marvel, and now this woman. Did he have a sign on him somewhere that said "Hey, I obviously have a secret agenda! Please, feel free to ask me about it!"? "Specialist, I'm just here to..." He paused, trying to think of how to say it correctly. Gods, he hated politics! "...touch base with an old friend."
Winter raised an eyebrow. "Why did she leave you as though you tried something, then? I have not seen her look that upset in… a while."
Jaune lost his patience. "It's private. If you must know something, we put off talking about it until tomorrow." It was so much easier to just say what he was thinking. "If you're so concerned about it, go talk to her. She'll tell you the same thing."
"I- I can't." The specialist's face looked sad and a bit surprised, as though she hadn't meant to say that.
"What? Why?"
"I… made a mistake." Jaune sighed again, motioning for the older woman to join him at the balcony railing. If Weiss wasn't going to talk to him tonight, he might as well try to help. 'Be like Ruby. It wouldn't matter to her who it was, all that matters is that this is probably hurting Weiss too.'
Winter hesitated for a moment before joining him. "I suppose you want to help?"
"I'm trying to help my friends." Jaune agreed. "I remember how much Weiss idolized you in Beacon, so I'm sure whatever falling out the two of you are going through is hurting her just as much as you."
Winter stared out over the grounds, which were now just dark outlines against the night as clouds continued to move in. "I can't tell you much, because quite a bit of it is classified, but I'll explain what I can. Just know that if I'm using generalizations it's so I can keep my job." Jaune nodded, and the specialist continued. "Weiss and I… had a fight over her coming back. I was goading her, and I may have crossed a line."
"You were trying to convince her you were right, by goading her?" Jaune asked, a bit confused.
"I was trying to throw her off balance." Winter snapped. "Weiss would snap me like a twig if I faced her at full power. I know that, she knows that, and that's why I did whatever I could to keep her from focusing enough to disable me. I knew she didn't want to permanently kill me, even if she was furious, and I relied on her weakness to keep me alive."
"I assume it worked, seeing as we're talking now."
Jaune was rewarded with a bitter smile for his attempt at humor. "Oh, it worked. She was- she agreed to come back."
"She didn't want to come back?" Jaune narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you leave her alone then?"
"I… I can't tell you." Winter looked shiftily away. "I just… she came back and met with… someone and found out that our brother, Whitley, wanted her to come back. She accused me of betraying her and planning to trade her away."
"Harsh." Jaune blew out a breath of his own. "I'm sure that she'd listen if you spoke to her now. Weiss burns pretty hot on occasion, says some things, and might get in your face, but she's almost all bark-" He was cut off by a harsh bark of laughter and a pained wince. "What?"
"There was a time that was true, but my sister has changed." Winter gingerly touched her face. "She broke my nose."
"What?" Jaune blinked. "Weiss broke your nose? The girl who complained about cracking a nail when we infiltrated the Land of Darkness actually made a fist and punched you hard enough to shatter cartilage?"
Winter raised an eyebrow. "If that surprises you, then I take it you would not expect my sister to have physically picked me up and bodily thrown me out of the room?"
"Nope." Jaune shook his head.
"She did both. She then disowned me in front of my squad."
"I see." The huntsman sighed, looking away from the woman who was giving him hopeful looks. As though he could give her the answers she craved. "Well, how long ago was this?"
"A while," Winter evaded.
Jaune shrugged. "I don't know what else to tell you, other than to keep reaching out. I'm guessing that whatever you said really crossed a line, if it was bad enough that Weiss immediately jumped to conclusions about your trustworthiness when it looked like you might have betrayed her." He paused for a moment. "What I don't get is why she thought you were trying to trade her to your brother."
"I may have thought that it may happen," Winter allowed carefully, "but I assure you that it was not my choice."
"Well then, whose-"
"Mine." Ironwood stood in the doorway to the balcony, a glass in his hand and his eyebrows making a thin line. "Specialist, do you mind?"
"Of course, sir." Winter snapped her heels together before departing back into the party.
As she passed the door, the General called out. "If you could close the door, please, Schnee. I would rather not have anyone else stopping by to overhear potentially classified information without my knowledge."
Winter's face was red as she looked back, but her voice held no hint of embarrassment. "Yes sir."
As the door closed, Ironwood looked at Jaune, and the huntsman tried not to look guilty. "Good evening, sir."
"Call me James." The General gave a rare smile. "I am one of the few here in Atlas who are aware of the full scope of your adventures. There are those who I feel are deserving of calling me by my first name, and you have more than earned the right."
"Okay… James." Jaune said, trying to get the name to sit on his tongue. It felt weird to apply to the man who had always been so much larger than life. Growing up, the 'Iron General' of Atlas had always been larger than life. He was known as the 'king' of Atlas, since all he needed was a single extra vote on the council to ensure his agendas were followed. Calling someone who was the de facto ruler of a country by their first name was strange to the blonde huntsman.
"You aren't in trouble, Jaune," Ironwood continued pleasantly. "I just wanted to explain a couple of things that my Specialist didn't feel she could tell you. Weiss was wanted by her brother, and he was holding his power over the Dust supply over my head to demand that I find and track her down. Obviously I was opposed to the idea, but I thought that Weiss might agree to face her brother down in the business or political arena." He sighed and leaned on the balcony, looking over the dark grounds as Jaune listened attentively.
"I brought in Winter and explained why I didn't want her on the mission, and I think she saw it as a test of her loyalty. She insisted she could bring her sister back, insisted she was the only one who could." The older man took a drink from his glass. "And you know? I think she was right. Had I sent the team without her, Weiss could have just crushed them and told them to leave. That huntress is one of the most powerful I've ever seen. She easily outstrips Glynda, and that woman is not someone you want to mess with." Jaune nodded, shuddering at the memory of his school days food fight, and the look on Glynda's face as she'd marched down the lunchroom, tables, benches, and food magically repairing and removing themselves in a massive malstrom.
"I didn't know that Winter knew about Whitley's attempt at controlling his now world famous sister, though since the boy asked for Winter first, I suppose it wasn't too hard to guess why I suddenly needed the youngest Schnee daughter."
"So she actually planned on selling Weiss out?" Jaune asked, surprised.
"I doubt it. Had I told her to, I think I may have had a revolt on my hands. Winter is well respected in the Hunter Corps, and that may have been my undoing. I think that's why she brought her sister back. She wanted as much help as she could get, rather than fight without Weiss."
That at least made sense to Jaune, and he nodded. "And Weiss?" He expected Ironwood to tell him about the brilliant plan he and the youngest Schnee huntress had created. Instead he got a head shake and a heavy sigh.
"Weiss was sent back to the west almost immediately. She was supposed to meet with me as soon as she got back to Atlas. She never did. She went straight to her home and her ailing father. She then discovered a letter containing evidence that her brother had injected their father with some sort of poison; that letter is said to have killed the courier who carried it, the servant who delivered it, and the recipient."
"He- Wasn't her brother already in control of the company? Why would he need to kill their father?" Jaune asked, confused.
"It's been the question on everyone's minds. Why? The murder was obvious. Whitley claimed he was framed, but the poison was found concealed in an ink bottle that had his fingerprints and on a letter that was clearly his handwriting to a man who still possessed the family fortune. Considering that the letter in question was requesting funds from his father, I can only surmise that he needed more money for some reason." Ironwood sighed. "The problem is the letter we found in his desk." He drew a folded piece of paper from his jacket and handed it to Jaune.
Dear Whitley,
Dear brother, did you think I forgot all about you? Me, your sister? I could never forget my little bro! That's why I'm writing you, to tell you all about how I'm going to win. Remember those games we used to play as kids, where you'd nearly win? And then, at the last moment, I would beat you?
Get ready to lose, little brother.
Love,
W. S.
Carefully folding the letter, Jaune handed the incriminating paper back to Ironwood. "I assume you've begun an inquiry into Weiss?"
The general nodded. "I looked into it. There's nothing."
Jaune wrinkled his brow. "There has to be something. That's her handwriting. It's a mess, scribbles in some places, but it's obviously hers."
"And as far as I can tell, all she did was taunt her brother." James sighed. "The postmark on the envelope that held this letter was written nearly a month before we picked her up to talk to her and she and her sister fell out."
"So why show it to me?" Asked Jaune. "Unless… you still think she did it." Another thought popped into his head. "Actually, shouldn't that be under lock and key somewhere, so it… doesn't...get...lost…" He trailed off. "She's never going to be caught." He whispered, meeting the General's eyes. "Not with such a powerful figure looking out for her."
Ironwood toasted him, ignoring the snowflakes that had begun to fall as he drank. "I always heard that you were underestimated, Jaune. Now I know it's the truth. There's only a few other people I've shown that letter to. None of them have figured it out. One might, but I don't think she will any time soon. By then there will be too many good things Weiss has done. She plans to help the small Dust businesses like her grandparents did. She's already put price locks on electrical Dust to ensure that utilities are affordable for the average person. Most importantly," the general set down his glass, "she's not demanding that I deliver political favors or treating my military as her own private army."
'Because she's building her own!' Jaune thought, but didn't bother to say it. James Ironwood was not a stupid man. He wouldn't miss something obvious like that, but it was apparent that he was holding the letter in reserve in case Weiss attempted to militarize too much.
"So if I go public?"
"I don't think you will. But if you did, there'd be a mad rush for a letter that would eventually be found to be a fake, written by someone who was paid by Whitley. They would agree to testify in exchange for time served and… well..." Ironwood gave a mirthless smile. "Whitley would be accused of attempting to frame his sister, and that would be the end of any plea deal he would hope to strike."
"So Whitley is innocent."
"As innocent as a man who attempted to extort a country's military can be."
Jaune sighed. "So why tell me this? What purpose could that possibly serve?"
Ironwood leaned back against the railing. "Between your meetings with Weiss and Winter it was only a matter of time before you figured this out on your own. I just needed you to stay quiet, so I filled you in on the big picture first."
"And my conscience, James? I'm sure you've heard that that can drive a man insane."
Ironwood shrugged, heading back into the party, glass in hand. "Conscience is a beautiful and terrible thing. The way I look at this, Atlas can have a petty man who has already tried to extort his kingdom in control of Remnant's supply of energy or we can have a ruthless woman who has already put her life on the line to save the entire world. I know which one I choose." Jaune felt his eyes narrow as the older man made his way inside, closing the door on the wintery scene and the furious huntsman's anger and incredulity.
Jaune woke at exactly five thirty.
It took him a minute to remember where he was, as he woke in an unfamiliar light blue-grey room, but then the evening came back. Weiss' promise, Winter's problem, James' manipulations… 'All I wanted to do was make sure my friends were okay. I found out that Yang needs help, Blake is going home to get better, and Weiss seemed alright… until I found out she may have murdered her father and framed her brother for it. On top of that she seems to be building her own private army for reasons unknown...' He rubbed his eyes, tired despite his restful sleep. 'Why is nothing ever simple for me?'
For better or worse, no answers were forthcoming. Deciding that he wasn't likely to get any resolution from just lying there and figuring that sleep wasn't going to come easily either now that his brain had started working, Jaune rolled out of bed, grabbing his scroll as he did so. He made it about halfway through a glass of water, before he realized there were no less than twelve missed calls and sixteen messages from Misthelth, the sister he had been supposed to stay with last night. Swallowing the last of his water a bit harder than he intended, he called his third sister. After a conversation made up of some creative cursing on Misthel's part, and many promises and apologies on Jaune's, he managed to explain where he was and why he hadn't stayed with her the night before.
"...So when Weiss said she had a place to stay, I figured I'd stay at her house for the night." Jaune finished as he laced up his boots. "It meant I could stay longer, and I need to talk to her today anyway."
"So you're going to go back to bed and have that conversation?" The teasing voice that came over the scroll left the boy spluttering, and the laughter that followed that had him roll his eyes. "Kid, you're way too easy to tease. I was just worried about you. Now I'm assuming you have someone to talk to so I'll leave you be." He gave a weak smile as she continued to chuckle at her insinuations. "Don't think that this gets you out of visiting me, though. I expect you to take me out for at least a beer, or something better, before you leave Atlas."
Jaune sighed as he hung up. Glancing at his scroll, he saw that the entire exchange had taken about an hour. Giving his bed a halfhearted look, he turned and made his way outside, hoping to find a servant who could show him to the kitchen where he could make some breakfast.
He was partially successful. He found a servant, who was horrified at the idea of him making his own food, and took him instead to a large dining hall where he found team FNKI finishing their own meal and, surprisingly SSSN.
"Jaune!" Sun waved him over. "Dude, I was worried I wouldn't get to see you! You know Scarlet-"
"Hey."
"-Sage-"
"Yo."
"-and, of course, Neptune!"
"What's up, Jaune?"
Jaune grinned at the group. "Hey guys. It's been a while. How was your trip?"
"Crazy!"
"Awesome!"
"Cool!"
"Terrifying." The entire table stared at Neptune. "What? It was! We had to travel to a lake to get a sword. Then we had to cross an ocean several times! And yeah, it was pretty cool to fight the cyclops and the six headed grimm—which lived waaay too close to that whirlpool, by the way—and that evil sorceress who turned you into Grimm, but it was still water! Not to mention, escaping from the group of faunus we were captured by required us to get in barrels and float down a river!" The blue haired boy wailed. "It was absolutely terrifying! I'm scarred for life!"
"Okayyy." Jaune said, digging into the bowl of oatmeal that was placed in front of him. "Soooo did you guys get anything for sailing through a sea of monsters and escaping a bunch of faunus?"
"We had the ship that Sun won in a poker game," Sage commented. "We named it the Titanic Millenium Falcon. It sank."
"Did you get ahold of the people you needed?" Sun asked Jaune quietly as the rest of the table erupted in laughter.
"I'm finishing up right now."
"How was Blake?" The faunus asked, his eyes unusually serious.
"Bottling up her feelings and using them against the Grimm."
Sun sighed. "Of course. And Yang?"
"Getting herself beaten up as penance for losing her sister," Jaune murmured, trying to keep what was definitely gossip to only one person.
Sun nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't go myself, man, but I just… knew you were the guy for this, you know?"
"Not really." Jaune replied honestly. "I'm not… I just want to help. You brought up that you couldn't do it and recommended I go. You were right… Ruby would have wanted this."
Sun patted Jaune gently on the shoulder with his tail as he took a bite from his breakfast sandwich. "Hey man, don't be so hard on yourself. Sometimes just wanting to help is all that's needed." He motioned with his sandwich to their hostess, who had just sat down at the end of the table. "She might need specialized help or just a shoulder to cry on. It's up to us to be one of those, and if she needs more, then at least we tried."
Jaune nodded before asking for another bowl of oatmeal. If Weiss wanted to talk to him right away, she wouldn't have had any compunction about interrupting his breakfast. As it was, she clearly didn't care if they put off their conversation for a while.
He ate and joked with SSSN and FNKI. About half way through the meal, Ren and Nora joined the group and the redhead turned it up to eleven, arm wrestling everyone at the table, holding a belching contest (which Kat won), and telling a myriad of dirty jokes, some of which were so outre that even Ren looked confused. Or at least as confused as Ren ever looked.
Eventually Weiss finished her meal, and, after losing her compulsory arm wrestling match to Nora, met Jaune's eyes and cocked her head towards the door.
Jaune nodded, and, rising, followed her out into the hall.
As soon as the door closed behind him, the white haired girl led him through the halls. Today her outfit resembled much more of her classic look: a 'combat skirt,' as she and Ruby had called it, with Myrtenaster at her side. "I hope you had a good time last night? Your room was satisfactory?" Despite her familiar look, she sounded so different from the entitled heiress she'd been when she had met him at Beacon all those years ago.
"It was fine." He responded quietly, noticing that the halls were alive with movement as pictures were being carefully removed, statues replaced, and, in some cases, walls repainted.
"Good." Weiss smiled, though it was less genuine than the one he had seen on her last night when he'd first run into her. "I thought we could have our meeting in the botanical garden."
"Um, sure." Jaune said, not really sure if his opinion was being asked for. "Do you want to?" Weiss sighed tiredly, and he remembered that she had been working quite a bit lately. He also doubted she had gotten much sleep the night before. "We can do this later, too," he added quickly. "I'm not in any hurry to be anywhere in particular, and I have a feeling you could use a bit more sleep." The white haired girl shook her head.
"No. I doubt I'll be able to get any restful sleep until we have dealt with this...issue." Weiss pointed to a staircase, then began descending it. Jaune paused.
"Um, I thought you said we'd be going to a garden." He might not be very good with plants, but he was fairly certain that they needed sunlight to grow, and underground seemed to be the opposite of where the sun could be found.
Weiss glared up at him. "We are. Now are you going to come along, or are you going to stand there all day looking confused?" He hung his head and followed as she continued, "Really, as if I don't know my way around my own home, Jaune!"
"I'm sorry." He sighed, hurrying to catch up with her, and idly noting that the staircase went a lot deeper than he'd thought it would. "I just figured that, you know, sunlight for plants… underground doesn't exactly seem like the best place for that."
"Hmmmm. I suppose you have a point." The huntress conceded with a sniff as they descended deeper. "My family can be a bit… eccentric when it comes to building things. I can see how you might get confused." As the two continued down he was about to point out that eccentric might be a bit of an understatement, considering they were apparently going into an underground biosphere, when they finally reached the bottom of the staircase. Weiss paused in front of what looked like a reinforced steel door. "Ah, yes, here we are." A quick code was punched into the door, and it slid up into its frame. He gasped as he walked inside.
The humidity was tangible, though that was only the first thing he noticed. What really caught his attention was the size, and the colors! He was standing on a balcony that overlooked the biome. Trees of every type, many of them of a jungle variety, stretched on in front of him and to his right as far as his eyes could follow. Further off to his left just make out what looked like grassland. What truly fascinated him, though, was the Dust. It seemed to be infused into the trees and grasses, and as animals appeared and vanished among the foliage he swore that they too had Dust on or in them.
"This, in my opinion, is the true jewel of the Schnee family dynasty." Weiss said, wistfully looking over the biome. "My great-great-grandmother had this idea, to capture a bit of the world away from where the Grimm could get it. She tucked it away but couldn't get it to live, so my great-great-grandfather began to research how to use Dust to keep it alive." She smiled. "Everything in here is… magical. I often wonder if this is what the world Salem and Ozpin lived in looked like." She held out her hand, a ball of pure magical energy coalescing above her palm. "My father never knew about this. He wasn't of the family, and after mother realized all he wanted was her money, she never told him. Grandfather also never knew about it, which is why he scoured the world for Dust Veins." She turned back as the ball collapsed at her touch. "It's become a secret of the true Schnees." She met Jaune's eyes. "You will not ever speak of this place, Jaune."
Jaune nodded earnestly. "O-of course, Weiss." He wanted to ask why she had even showed it to him, why she trusted him of all people with a secret of this magnitude, but she turned almost reverently back to look over the jungle below, leaving him to wonder if he should interrupt.
"There's a tram a bit further in," Weiss said eventually, motioning to an elevator to their left. The two slid in, and the huntress punched a button and the elevator began to descend.
Looking through the glass, Jaune finally asked what had started eating at him. "Weiss, why are you showing me this? Why not your team or your friends?"
The white haired girl sighed. "You are a dear friend, Jaune, and I can tell you're in over your head, but did you ever stop to consider that I trust you?" She glanced up for a moment, before looking back 'outside.' "You saved my life on more than one occasion. You saved Ruby's life, Yang's, Blake's; you are literally the only other person I would show this to besides my team." She paused for a moment, then amended. "And possibly Ren and Nora, I suppose, but I do this because I trust that you won't try to take advantage of it."
The doors slid open with a hiss as they reached the ground. Not hesitating a bit, the huntress stretched for a moment before immediately walking briskly into the jungle. "I come from old money, Jaune. This biosphere is still being expanded. Experiments are occasionally done on cuttings taken from the trees or pulled from soil samples." She paused for a moment, motioning for him to join her, before continuing into the foliage. "The lighting is state of the art, good for creating the synthetic sunlight the trees need, or rather needed, to stay alive." She pointed to the ceiling, which had a bluish tinge to it. "We don't have perfect weather controls, of course, but they're good enough that we can recreate a jungle atmosphere in this portion, a dry, hot atmosphere for the desert, a cold, wet, and snowy portion for the arctic and mountainous regions… you get the idea."
Jaune wanted to protest that he really didn't get the idea, but his quarry was nimbly moving through the underbrush, seemingly unconcerned for the other half of her party of two. Hurrying and debating on simply pulling out his sword and just hacking, he barely kept up with Weiss, finally arriving at the base of a tree covered with vines, branches, and assorted grasses and sporting a well hidden door in the trunk. Weiss opened it grandiosely, motioning for him to go down the ramp inside. Carefully making his way down the ramp, he found the tram that she had referenced, though it wasn't facing the way he expected. Instead of the horizontal view he was anticipating, the car was looking straight up.
"A sky tram?" He asked, looking at his guide. She smiled and nodded.
"My grandmother had it installed, actually, hence the large replica of Beacon outside. She convinced my grandfather that it would be 'fashionable' to be seen as eccentric like her father and grandfather. Most of the strange buildings around the estate were 'eccentric projects' that we, as the Schnee women, would quietly funnel funds out of and into our own little world down here." She sighed as she opened the tram doors, showing an interior that wasn't as sideways as Jaune had thought it would be.
"My father tied down my mother's access to the family accounts." Weiss added bitterly. "He refused, quite understandably really, to take part in the tradition of adding to the estate." She pushed the 'door close' button a bit harder than was necessary as the two walked in. "He also refused to let my mother do the same, and that's why she doesn't have anything added here." Weiss sighed, programming the computer before finally buckling herself into one of the seats. Jaune followed suit.
The tram moved at a fair clip out of its docking bay and eventually shot out of the top of the tree the two had entered. Jaune gaped at the view he was now afforded.
They were on the ceiling, or at least the tram was attached to it. From here he had a good view of the entire complex; and what a view it was! He could see a different biome in almost every direction. Beyond the grassland he thought he could see a desert, and further in a large mountain dominated the skyline, snow capping its peaks.
As he placed his hands on the glass, he realized that the interior had, apparently, rotated. Sensing his surprise, Weiss explained, "It's on a gyroscope so we can stay perfectly level. My grandmother was in a wheelchair for most of her life and wished to avoid sliding around within the tram. There used to be a path through the jungle, but Mother allowed it to be overgrown once Grandmother died."
"This is beyond beautiful, Weiss."
A heavy sigh came from behind him, and he turned to see his friend giving the land below them a wistful look. "This Jaune...this is proof that we, as humans, don't need the gods." The words set off alarms in the huntsman's head
"What?" He gave the white haired girl an incredulous look. "You aren't saying…"
"Probably not." Weiss seemed to come back to herself with a bit of a shake, dismissing his concern with a wave of her hand. "I see no reason to treat the gods like… well, like deities, really, but I'm hardly going to encourage something stupid like an uprising against them." She chuckled, sitting daintily on one of the couches as she did so. "After all, we all saw how that turned out." Her laugh became a bit more forced, and the supposed mirth didn't reach her eyes.
Jaune moved to one of the chairs across from the president of the SDC and gingerly sat down, subconsciously noticing how comfortable it was. "What are you suggesting, then, Weiss?"
The huntress pursed her lips, clearly displeased. "I highly doubt that was the reason you've been badgering me to talk to you, Jaune." She narrowed her eyes a bit. "What is it you have really been meaning to ask me since last night?"
'Where do I begin?' Jaune thought, looking over the impossible landscape far below them. "Are you okay?"
"Never better!" She chirped, sounding quite happy. "I have my family's wealth to do with as I see fit. My father isn't trying to control my life at every turn. My mother is finally out on her own and able to live her life however she wants." She laughed, and it sounded much more genuine than the one she had given before. "Jaune, I feel better than I have in a long time. I have a purpose and plans! I have so many plans!" The huntsman felt like his friend was about to punctuate her last sentence with a cackle but caught herself at the last moment. Instead she continued much more calmly. "I have a chance now, Jaune."
"A chance for what?"
"To change the world." Her eyes glittered dangerously, and the blonde got the feeling she wasn't just talking about donating money and bribing politicians.
"How?"
"Uh-uh." She shook her head. "No questions about my plans. I may be willing to show you my family's most well protected secret, but that doesn't mean I'll tell you mine. Next question."
"Um." He paused for a moment, looking out over a lake they were racing over. "Winter."
"What about her?" The temperature seemed to drop, and Jaune swore he saw frost begin to form on the windows.
"What ha-?"
"We fought." Her voice was frigid.
"Why?"
"Because." Her tone hadn't changed, and after a few moments had passed, he realized she wasn't going to elaborate.
"What about?"
"Family."
Trying not to liken the conversations to the ones he occasionally had with his four-year-old niece, the huntsman continued to pry. "Why don't you talk to her?"
"No." Jaune was pretty sure he could see his breath, and he was certain that if he looked up there would be icicles forming on the ceiling. "She made her choice. She can live with it."
"She's sorry."
"She should be."
"Ironwood thinks she wanted you there to help overthrow him if he was actually going to hand you over."
"Then he's still the same stupid idealist that made us lose Beacon." Her icy glare didn't let up. "One more question on this topic. Then I either throw you out or we change the subject. Your choice."
Jaune thought for a moment. "Do you think that could have been her plan?"
She considered it, which was more than he had expected. "Honestly? I suppose, though it doesn't really fit with the way my-that woman has acted over the years." At his curious look she glared, but answered his unasked question. "Winter has a one track mind when it comes to General Ironwood, and that track has never failed to lead straight to following his orders without question. The suggestion that she wouldn't listen to this single order and would attempt a coup seems, quite frankly, ridiculous. I don't know why you decided to listen to such a ludicrous claim by her-"
"James told me that, not her."
"Then the esteemed general is either an idiot or an overconfident idealist, and I literally just told you which one I think it is."
Her posture told him that she was done with the topic. He sighed and finally asked the question he'd come for.
"What about Ruby?"
Where Winter's name had been a catalyst for cold anger, Ruby's was completely different. Weiss deflated, then sighed heavily. "I knew you were going to ask this question... and yet it still hurts." She looked out the window; the tram was turning around over an ocean or another large body of water, and her eyes reflected the blue far below. "I miss her." She finally whispered. Slightly louder, she continued. "When I saw her take that hit… I was too far- too useless." Her hands balled into fists. "I was her partner. I was the person who was never supposed to be away from her side, because that's what nearly killed her when she was with JNPR. And I failed." She turned at him, a look of pure loathing on her face. "The gods." She spit out the words, and then followed with the action itself. Jaune nearly pinched himself. Weiss Schnee, the princess of manners, actually doing something like that?
War really did change people.
"Those… things made the problem, blamed us for not cleaning it up, demanded we take responsibility for their actions." Blood was starting to leak from the huntress' fists as her nails dug into her palms, but she didn't seem to notice. "My- Ruby was dead because of stupid grudge that two overgrown children had against a single mortal who was just desperate to have her love back." Her eyes narrowed as she looked back out the window.
"Weiss-" He began, but she interrupted.
"Salem was a vicious, murderous bitch who had nothing left." Her low voice cut across him. "But when I realized Ruby was gone, was never coming back, I realized just how right she was." Against his self preservation instincts screaming for him to stay away, Jaune gently placed a hand on her arm, but she just shrugged it off. "I wanted them to bring her back. I wanted her to just do one last thing. To tell me that I was being silly, or mean, or even just to see her smile again." She rubbed away the tears forming in her eyes. "When the gods told us that they weren't going to fix what they broke with their blunder...I nearly made the same mistake Salem did." She smirked. "Actually, I did make the same mistake the witch did." She looked at Jaune, her eyes a million miles away. "I stabbed the god of light, and then I stabbed the god of darkness. Again and again." Her tone was that of a giddy child on their birthday who had just gotten everything they wanted. "I stabbed them both, and as they prepared to annihilate every vestige of me, Blake stepped in between." She snorted. "They didn't kill me, because they didn't know what a Faunus was; can you believe it? They let us, humanity, live, because they didn't want to kill an 'undeserving' non-human intelligent species at the same time." She shook her head. "The gods play by playground rules. Rules that they make up as they go along, as long as they are in charge."
"Um," Jaune said, feeling stupid. Really, though, he wasn't sure what to say. He had expected Weiss to be suffering from loss, both from losing her sister and her best friend. Not… not coming to terms with the fact that humanity was on its third chance at survival because of the very race that they had continuously run roughshod over. Or that, apparently, his friend had stabbed a god.
Two gods.
Multiple times.
Now his head hurt.
Sighing, the huntress sat back onto the couch. "I was afraid at first that the gods had cursed me like they did Salem."
"Why?" Jaune was curious.
"Because Salem just wanted to be with Ozpin." The white haired girl said sadly. "All she wanted was to be with the person she loved, and they took it from her. Forever."
"They brought him back." Jaune felt this was relevant information, but Weiss shook her head.
"They brought him back after Salem had tried everything to get to him. She sacrificed everything to be with him." She began counting off on her fingers. "She sacrificed her morals, her honesty, her entire race, and finally..." The huntress met his eyes, and he sat back. "Finally, she sacrificed her sanity, all in a desperate attempt to be with the person she loved."
Jaune could see that the white haired huntress believed it, but what really frightened him was how...broken she looked. If the eyes were windows to the soul, then this girl was broken beyond all recognition. "Weiss, are you-?"
"I told you, I'm fine!" She snapped. "I have to be. Salem waged a direct war against the gods, and it cost her everything, including her love." She broke eye contact with him. "I have nearly everything I need now. That's why I'm done."
Jaune stood up. "I'm not going to let you do that."
Weiss glanced at him, raising an eyebrow and crossing her legs primly as she did so. "First, you couldn't stop me if you wanted to. Second, I doubt you know what it is I'm going to do." She chuckled a bit.
"Death isn't the way out-"
She looked horrified. "Jaune! No way in the world would that ever be the answer." Sighing, she motioned for him to sit down. "No, I just want to lose the gods their followers, that's all. An anti-religion if you will." She acted as though she was simply talking about planting a garden, not overthrowing all powerful beings that made the world.
"Um, won't that upset them, though?" He carefully sat down, far from at ease.
Weiss shrugged. "Probably, but I don't care. It's not like they can wipe us out just because we don't worship the ground they walk on."
"Didn't you say they play by their own rules?" The huntsman pointed out. "I'm pretty sure they would annihilate us for less than that."
"Maybe." The white haired huntress replied unconcernedly. "But I doubt it. The more arrogant someone is, the more likely that they'll try to 'fix' us." She grinned. "Really, it's more likely that they'll leave again to show us how much better it is with them around." She waved to the outside, which was still speeding by far below. "Enter the biosphere."
"To do what?" Jaune asked, confused.
Her smile was practically feral. "Magic will forever be locked to Dust except for a few… select individuals, unless we can somehow integrate it into the land again."
"You want to reintroduce natural magic to the world?" Jaune shook his head. "Won't that just make people like the gods more?"
Weiss shook her head. "Not if it's because of humanity."
"And you're sure it'll work?" The huntsman asked, more curious than anything.
"Not at all," The billionaire acknowledged. "But I have backup plans, and no-" She added as he opened his mouth to ask. "-I am not going to tell you those. They're secret."
He nodded, staring back over the landscape as they returned to the jungle they had started in. "I think you're being optimistic that you'll be around when the gods finally lose patience and leave us to our own devices again."
"I'm being optimistic about a lot of things." The huntress laughed. "That is one of those things that really doesn't worry me. I have plans, remember?"
Jaune ignored the shiver that went down his spine at that statement. "So, what about your team?"
For the first time in their conversation, Weiss genuinely frowned. "Blake and Yang… Yes, I suppose I will have to do something about them..."
"What?"
"Hm?" She looked up and gave her head a little shake. "Well, they're probably not doing too well if your presence here is any indication."
Jaune felt like that wasn't what the billionaire had meant, but he decided to let it be. Weiss was many things, most of which he didn't understand, but she wasn't the kind to turn on her friends. "No, they really aren't." Much of the conversation back upstairs was spent explaining what he had learned about Yang and Blake, the conversations, and what it sounded like the two would be doing.
"That's exactly something Yang would do." Weiss growled as he finished telling her about what had been happening in Beacon. "To do that to Blake, after everything… oh, we will be having words, Xiao Long."
Jaune shifted slightly. "Blake is probably back at Menagerie by now-" He was cut off by a snort from his companion.
"I would bet every penny I own that Blake made it no further than the docks of Menagerie before she was back on a boat to Beacon." The huntress shook her head. "Actually, I'd be shocked if she made it on a boat to Menagerie in the first place. If she didn't go directly there, I'll eat my blade."
Jaune looked concerned. "But she needed to go home-"
"No, she needed to mourn." Weiss disagreed. "You were right about that, at least, but the place she needs to do that is with the person she loves." She sighed, quietly adding, "That's just how she is."
Deciding to leave it alone, Jaune looked at his watch and blanched. "It's almost three PM!" His scroll then erupted in a buzz of missed calls and unread messages. Glancing at them, he sighed. "And my sister is going to kill me."
Weiss smiled sadly. "You should go see her. I'll have my driver take you."
Jaune shook his head. "No. I don't need to inconvenience you any more than I already have-"
"Nonsense." Weiss shook her head. "I want to meet your sister anyway."
The ride was full of small talk, with a major question in the front of Jaune's mind:
Why did Weiss want to meet his sister?
It wasn't like she had shown an interest in his family before, though her own family, fractured the way it was, might be a factor. Hopefully her meeting with Misthelth would see her want to make up with her own sibling. The one she hadn't framed for murder.
His thoughts were interrupted as they pulled up in front of a high-class restaurant. He mentally cursed. "Um, Weiss, Misthel doesn't know about any sort of dress code."
Weiss gave him a disarming smile that looked a little out of place on her. "That's fine, Jaune. If we have to go shopping we can. It's the least I can do for a friend like you." He tried not to shiver at the ever-so-slight sinister emphasis she put on the word 'friend.'
Messaging his sister their location, he sat back to wait for her response. Surprisingly there was only a moment between his sitting back, and a sudden flurry of messages, followed by a phone call before he could even open them.
Sighing at his sister's impatience, he answered. "Hey Misthel."
"When I said 'something better' I was thinking of a harder drink." Misthelth wasted no time with greetings, disbelief in her voice even as he heard shuffling in the background as she no doubt hurried to get ready. "Really, kid, if I wasn't your sister, I'd think you were trying to make a good impression on me for some reason."
"Definitely not." Jaune ignored his sister's laughter at his tone. "I was invited by-" He noticed that Weiss gently indicated that he shouldn't mention her. "-A friend, the same one I talked about this morning." The white haired girl threw her hands up in exasperation.
"The girlfriend of yours? The one you were sleeping with?"
"At her house, Misthel! Nothing else!" He could already feel his face heating up, and judging by the eye roll from Weiss she had no trouble guessing what it was they were talking about.
"Mhmmm." His sister responded, with the tone of someone who clearly didn't believe what they were being told. "I might have bought that if the two of you weren't taking me to a restaurant regularly frequented by the uber rich." Her voice suddenly dropped. "Good gods, Jaune, you didn't get her pregnant, did you?"
"No!" Jaune squawked, his face probably resembled a cherry at this point.
"Hmmmm." There was no humor in his sister's voice this time. "I hope not, for your sake. If she's taking us to dinner at Rick's she might be trying to butter you up to give you bad news. If she is, I hope for your sake that her dad's nice. Especially since you know that we, your sisters, won't be."
He sighed. "Trust me when I say that is really not a problem. How soon will you be here?"
"That depends on whether or not I can find my good heels." Misthelth replied testily, clearly not pleased at the sudden change. "I have nothing good to wear, and if you're already there…"
Jaune rolled his eyes. Muting his scroll, he looked at his fellow passenger. "She wants to know if we'll pick her up."
Weiss shrugged. "Sure, where's she live?"
Jaune shrugged, and gave the address. Weiss turned to talk to the driver, while he went back to the conversation. "Why don't we pick you up?"
"You don't have to-"
Jaune nodded. "No, but we're already on our way. We'll be there in-" he glanced at Weiss, who mouthed 'fifteen' at him. "-fifteen minutes. Think you can be ready by then?"
"Nope." The cheerful voice came back at him. "But I'll walk out naked if I have to, so don't worry. See ya."
The click from the other end of the line did little to make Jaune feel better. "You better not." He muttered.
"So, do I even want to know?" Weiss asked, a bit more warily than he'd expected.
He thought for a moment. "No." He decided. "Ignorance is bliss, in this case."
Weiss snorted. "Normally I'd disagree, but judging by the way your face lit up like a beacon a couple of times, I'd say that I am, in fact, better off not knowing. Besides," she continued after a moment, "I have a feeling that I may find out one way or another tonight."
With those ominous words, she sat back, and the trip passed by quickly. He messaged his sister as they turned onto her street.
"You ready yet?"
"Oh, definitely not. Give me a moment to strip off my clothes and I'll be out."
He sighed and was about to respond when he saw that his sister was standing—fully clothed, thank the gods—right outside the door to her apartment.
"We're pulling up right now."
His sister looked at the limo, did a double-take, and then, even though he couldn't hear her, let loose a string of profanity so vile that she probably would have been arrested for public indecency if someone had heard. He opened his door. "I'm glad to see you too."
Misthelth smiled, though it looked a bit more nervous than he was used to seeing on her. "Jaune!" Climbing in, she gave him a hug, squeezing a bit tighter than was strictly necessary, before turning to his friend. "Miss Schnee, I didn't realize you were friends with my brother."
Weiss smiled politely. "I believe that we can be a bit more familiar tonight, Misthel. After all, we'll be eating together here in just a bit. Please call me Weiss."
Misthelth nodded, obviously a bit taken back. Jaune, however, was more than a little surprised. "You two know each other?"
Glancing across at the huntress, clearly a bit nervous, his sister replied. "Um, you could say that. Jaune, meet my boss. Boss, my little brother Jaune."
Weiss chuckled. "I've known Jaune for quite some time, Misthel. I thought you knew that."
Jaune agreed. "I know I told you about her when I was still in school."
"Well…" His sister sighed. "It's not exactly like you brought up that she was a Schnee, you know, one of the wealthiest people in the world."
"But I thought it was obvious!" Jaune pointed out, still incredulous that his sister worked for Weiss, of all people.
Weiss laughed. "To be incredibly fair, Jaune, I thought it was apparent too. After all, when we stayed with your other sister… um-"
"Saphron." Jaune and Misthelth supplied at the same time.
"- Saphron didn't make a big deal about who I was." She looked at Misthelth, who was still obviously nervous. "I thought that she already told you."
Jaune glanced at his sister. "So you hired my sister?"
Weiss shrugged. "Well of course. I had traveled with, fought beside, and worked with you for years. If she had even a tenth of your tenacity and drive I knew that I would have an excellent worker. She was everything I wanted and more."
Misthelth blushed slightly, looking away at the praise. "Really Mis- Weiss, I just do my job."
"You do." Weiss agreed. "Not to mention volunteering for… tasks that I normally wouldn't ask of you."
His sister shrugged. "I know what needs to be done to accomplish goals. And the bonuses are nice."
Jaun shook his head, ignoring the gnawing in his gut. Misthelth wasn't an idiot, nor was she a doormat. If she didn't like what she was doing, she would quit, boss be damned. "Did Misthel ever tell you why she quit the army?"
"Oh no. Jaune, we are not talking about my days there."
Weiss shook her head. "Not really. I knew she served with the huntress of my sister's company before Winter was transferred, but most of her record was classified, and I didn't really look too much further."
Jaune grinned, pushing his sister back as she made to jump and put her hand over his mouth. "So I guess you never heard about the Orangutan Incidents?"
Weiss leaned forward. "'Incidents?' As in more than one?" At Misthelth's groan, she smiled. "Winter told me about an incident, but if there are more than one, I've got to hear about them."
Misthelth sighed. "Okay. Jaune, I'm not going to let you tell the story, because you don't tell it with the right… feeling." She grinned a bit mischievously. "Oh, and boss? This is all hypothetical, right?"
The white haired huntress shrugged, a matching grin on her own face. "Of course, and I promise to match each of your stories with one of my own."
When the two women glanced at him, Jaune sighed. "Yeah okay, the statute has passed for most of my adventures. I'll do so too."
As they pulled up outside Rick's, Weiss grinned. "I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."
It was late when they finally dropped Misthelth off at her apartment. "I had fun tonight Weiss. Thanks for inviting me out."
Weiss laughed. "I'm afraid that I invited myself along, Misthel, but I'm glad it didn't interfere with your night."
"I'm just glad you're not pregnant!" Jaune's sister immediately covered her mouth, eyes wide in shock. "Oh my gods, I did not just say that." She grabbed Jaune and shook him a bit. "Jaune, please tell me that I did not just tell my boss that I was glad she wasn't having your baby!"
Jaune sighed, ignoring Weiss' surprised, and highly amused looks. "You did, and to make matters worse, you just admitted you thought I was the father."
Misthelth stopped shaking him and sighed. "Well I guess I'll be fired on Monday, but that's future Misthelth's problem. Current Misthelth needs to go and sleep off her alcoholic stupor." She climbed out of the limo. "Good night guys! Jaune, I expect to party like this every time you come to visit me now! Byee." She flounced down the sidewalk, pausing at the door to wave before going inside.
"You aren't going to fire my sister, are you?" Jaune asked, as he closed the limo's door.
Weiss shook her head. "Not likely. She's good at what she does, and she does a lot." She sighed. "Besides, I like her, she tries hard, and she's got her own problems to live with. I cover for her when… mysterious circumstances occur, and she keeps my hands clean." The billionaire ignored his concerned look. "I told you I wanted to talk about your sister's job with me last night." She chuckled darkly as he nodded. "You showed me that you don't really get insinuations, so I'll be perfectly honest with you now. Misthelth is as talented as they come, but if you try to mess up my plans, Jaune, she won't be the first one I take out my anger on." Her eyes glinted dangerously. "I make no promises that I won't use her to do so, though. I suggest that if you were thinking about trying anything, that you reconsider." She smiled coldly. "I have no compunctions about removing problems that... inconvenience me, Jaune. Don't become one, and you won't be fighting your sister to your death."
"You don't know my sister if you think she'll turn on family that easily."
Weiss smirked. "Didn't you hear? Neo escaped last week." His eyes widened, as she continued, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "Apparently she got her hands on a voice recorder of some kind." She met his eyes. "It's said to be indistinguishable from the real thing."
Jaune fought back the urge to flinch away, meeting his former friend's gaze steadily. "How is it Yang can be so blind about who she is when her teammate has already become more terrible than the enemy they worked to defeat?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Jaune, I am not out to rule mankind or see it annihilated because of some wrong I feel was done to me. I am out for revenge, and I am willing to go a little further than may be considered… proper." She shifted slightly, and the huntsman fought back the urge to grab his blade in case she attacked.
"You've sent people to prison who are innocent. Murdered your family. Set up a proxy army-"
"And tied the hands of the only man on Remnant who could do anything about it." Weiss smirked. "I suggest that my team doesn't learn the full extent of my plans, because I will know who told them, and that could lead to unpleasant circumstances."
Jaune glared coldly at the manipulative woman in front of him. "Why would you do this, Weiss? Why turn on everyone and everything you know to be right? Why become a villain like Salem?"
"Salem nearly conquered the world once." Weiss replied, her self-assured smirk still in place. "And unlike her, I don't have a love to follow me through the rest of my life. I only get one, which means that I need to make it as effective as possible. If I am a villain like Salem as you claim, then I welcome it, because I would rather be an effective villain than a useless hero."
"You've changed," Jaune said sadly, looking at the huntress who stood for so much good once.
"Losing your best friend, someone who could have been- Well, that doesn't matter anymore." The limo pulled to a stop, and Weiss smiled. "This is where you leave."
Glancing out the window, Jaune saw an airship warming up its engines. "I feel like that's a trap."
The billionaire shrugged. "Might be. But did you really think I would tell you everything and then kill you? That would be a bit pointless, right?" The huntsman gave a cautious nod. "You're my fail-safe, Jaune." Weiss looked at him earnestly. "I've calculated a high chance of success. My plans have been tweaked until they are nearly perfect, but there's still a chance of failure. I don't want someone else to do the same things I'm doing."
"You have too much power, and only you should be allowed to?" Jaune tried hard not to sneer, but he wasn't entirely successful. "Do you really think that highly of yourself, Weiss? That you're that perfect?"
She stared at him curiously for a few moments before finally answering. "Of course not Jaune. I may be close to perfect, but I know I'm not." She gave a little smile at that. "No, I doubt that I should be allowed the power I have-"
"Then give it up." Jaune interrupted, ignoring the pleading lilt that had entered his voice. "Go home, destroy your plans, do the right thing-"
"And let the gods get away with their murder of Ruby? Never-"
"The gods didn't kill Ruby, that was Salem-"
"Their agent, it was as good as them-"
"Yang took care of her-"
"Yes, well, she shouldn't have!" Weiss was breathing hard, her eyes narrowed and angry. "Ruby wasn't her partner, she wasn't her best friend, she was all that and more to me! Yang got her revenge, and I never even got a chance to- to-!" She started to tear up and furiously swiped the tears out of her eyes. "I wasn't close enough to help Ruby when she needed it. The least I can do is make sure that the things that caused her death have some sort of justice meted out to them."
"But Salem-"
The huntress held up her hand. "Salem was a mistake the gods made. They haven't admitted that, and unless they do, and apologize, I am not going to stop." She glared. "I know you will tell the world what kind of monster I am, Jaune, just as soon as my grip slips on the leash I have on you right now. I'm counting on it." She paused, then continued in a whisper, tears still running down her face. "I am the last person you want to have this kind of power, and that's why I want to be the last person to have it." She met his eyes, and he saw her for the first time since seeing her at the party (was it really only yesterday? It felt like so much longer, lifetimes ago now) the same scared girl, desperate for a friend. A victim of a life so out of control that she was doing something, anything, to call her own. She didn't want to go down a villain, but if it was for Ruby she would do it. Just like before, though, she would rebel in her own little way.
Indecisive to the last.
"You're sure you want to do this, Weiss?" A nervous nod was his only answer.
"Fine." He hardened his face. "I'll do what you want, but only for the friendship you're spitting on by doing this. The friendship we had."
Maybe she was all cried out from earlier, because when he said that, she sighed as though relieved. Before she could say anything else, he pushed the door open, slamming it behind him.
No one could accuse her of making sense, but it still hurt to lose a friend as close as her.
From the President's Desk
Notes:
Penny called, is on her way to meet Ruby. I think Jaune is going there too. Will leave a message for her.
Tai called too. Is worried about me. Sweet, should do something nice for him soon. Ideas?
(Below are a few gift ideas, none of which seem very inspired, though there's a circled CRS.)
Blake and Yang missed our usual call times. Slightly concerned, (the rest is scribbled over, though the name Jaune can be made out)
Nevermind, just busy.
Jaune agreed, surprising, but good.
I'm sorry…
And thus ends Jaune's visit to team RWBY.
But you didn't think that was the end, did you?
Nah, there's an Epilogue, heheheh!
Now that won't be out until I get the rest of the Four Corners cycle up (which is gonna take some time, Blake's is kicking me, as is my muse) and all are tentatively slated to be up in the next couple years...
We'll see, I started writing this in August of last year, and it only recently got published. So you can guess that the other three might take some time.
Might.
As for the 'final' thanks, I appreciate everyone who commented, liked, and followed.
I hated the flames. But you guys were worth a laugh, and a drink, so it wasn't all bad.
I'm marking this complete for now, but know that there is an epilogue to be posted.
Feel free to complain in the comments.
Title credit goes to my friend's tattoo artist. (remember when these just used to go to my Beta's? Man this site's diversified.)
Thank you again to all who read.
R&R